The Blues have seen their strikers fire blanks regularly, and no Chelsea striker scored an away goal in the Premier League in the entirety of 2013.

Samuel Eto'o, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba have combined for only seven league goals this season, and the club have been strongly linked with moves for the likes of Falcao, Diego Costa and Gonzalo Higuain in a bid to solve their striking problems.

Chelsea obviously have the funds available for a blockbuster transfer, with Roman Abramovich's money still flowing through the club. Mourinho is evidently a big fan of Rooney, and while a January move is highly unlikely, another attempt in the summer could be on the cards after it was revealed that Rooney has been stalling on a new contract at United, suggesting he still sees his future away from the club.

With United almost certainly looking at a rebuilding process under Moyes, the time may be coming to let Rooney go – even if that means selling him to a title rival. But in order to let Rooney go, they should seek somebody in return – somebody who has recently had a run in with authoritarian Mourinho – Romelu Lukaku.

By allowing Rooney to leave in exchange for Lukaku, Mourinho gets the striker he wants and United are able to replace a vital component of their team with a player who could become one of the finest strikers in the world. Lukaku's potential is off the charts and his style of play is certainly reminiscent of Dider Drogba, and would provide the perfect foil for Robin van Persie, Javier Hernandez or Danny Welbeck.

Neither team will want to strengthen their rival, but an exchange of the two big-name strikers could be beneficial for all parties.

Olly Dawes

Olly is a Sports Management graduate and aspiring journalist, with most of his work surrounding football or NFL. He has formed two of his own sites, as well as contributing to a number of others before starting with Here Is The City.